Walking With Christ

Nearly everyone knows the story of David and Goliath found in 1 Samuel 17. The little shepherd boy against the absolute giant (nine and a half feet tall?) champion of the other army. An entire army afraid to stand in battle against one, admittedly, really big guy.

There are so many lessons from this story alone. It speaks of personal calling, gifts, responsibility, accountability, wisdom, discernment, the sovereignty of God, and even the nature of spiritual warfare.

In Galatians 6:5 it says, “For each will have to bear his own load.”(ESV) This is to say that each person has a personal responsibility that they alone are responsible for and capable of attending to. Yet, in Galatians 6:2 it says, “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.”(ESV) The context here matters. There are responsibilities and then there are burdens. A responsibility is personal. I am responsible for my own hunger. Then there are burdens that are too heavy for one person to bear. That burden can be different for each person. A heavy burden for one may be light to another. We each have a personal responsibility to carry our own load then help others in love to carry their burden in places where we are uniquely gifted to do so.

We are each also given gifts that make us special and unique. Romans 12:6-8 (6)Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; (7)if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; (8)the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.(ESV) These gifts may or may not be related to our calling. David was called to be the king of Israel. He was then prepared for the battle to come with Goliath.

In this battle with the giant, David had his own brothers angry at him because they thought he was just there to enjoy watching the battle. He had Saul and many others saying that he wasn’t ready or trained. He had Saul giving him pointers and tips on how to be a soldier when that’s not what he was. Saul offered David his personal armor to go into battle with. In Saul’s mind, a soldier couldn’t go into battle without armor and a sword. David had no experience with those things. He wouldn’t have known how to use them. He used a little bit of wisdom to know that he wasn’t supposed to use those. In fact, David had spent a lot of his time preparing for the exact method he would use against the giant.

See, here’s what people see but never catch. David was uniquely prepared for the battle with Goliath. He had been prepared in the wilderness against lions and bears. He was called to be the one to kill this monster. If anyone else had tried to fight Goliath without those gifts, preparation, and calling, then it would have ended in disaster. If David had sought out Goliath before he was ready then it would have been a disaster. If David had waited to face the giant out of fear that would have shown that he didn’t fully trust in the promises of God.

Let’s focus on this one part of the section above. “If anyone else had tried to fight Goliath”. I am not David. No one in this thread is David. None of us could have fought that giant and won. The entire nation of Israel would have fallen to that giant because David was the one called to fight him. Even if one of his brothers had wanted to help in the fight they would have been useless. This fight was meant for David and David alone. We each need to pray for the discernment and wisdom to know what battles to fight and which ones belong to others. Stop fighting the giants belonging to other people.



Side note, David went up against Goliath with nothing but his sling and five smooth stones from the river. Why five? David only needed one to kill Goliath. He didn’t miss his target because that would have meant death against the lion or bear. Why five? Answer, because Goliath had four brothers. He was expecting to have to fight all five of them. Yes, he would later kill the other four, but he started the battle against that family with the expectation of killing them all.

Second side note, David ran into battle. Ran. He didn’t simply stroll up to the giant and exchange witty banter. No, he rushed in and got the job done. He ran towards his giant because he already knew the outcome of the battle. God had said he would be king of Israel. He wasn’t king yet which meant he knew that he would survive this fight. This speaks heavily to the sovereignty of God. Every battle ultimately belongs to Him. 2 Chronicles 20.